On January 17, the PEAT Think Tank held an in-person meeting with leadership from the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). Based on an in-depth analysis of insights gathered at the meeting, PEAT has distilled a set of potential action steps that PEAT, DOL, and other organizations can use to prioritize emerging and prospective efforts around advancing accessible technology and employment.

PEAT's 2017 Think Tank meeting explored key issues related to accessible workplace technology through working groups and rich facilitated discussions with 63 participants representing industry, government, academia, and the disability community. The event generated several tangible recommendations for closing the accessible technology skills gap, expanding government apprenticeship and workforce programs for people with disabilities, and encouraging the development of accessible products.

In recent years Facebook has become a tool for professional networking and on-the-job workplace productivity through its enterprise collaboration software, Workplace. In this webinar, Director of Accessibility Jeff Wieland and Director of Policy Monica Desai discuss why and how Facebook has made accessibility a priority.​

Larry Goldberg of Oath and and Jeff Wieland of Facebook discuss how Teach Access is working with industry, academia, and advocacy groups to expand the quality and quantity of undergraduate programs that teach the fundamentals of accessibility.

Today, everything from your paycheck to your company’s recruitment portal is likely powered by electronic payroll systems and human capital management platforms. Jennifer Ravalli of ADP recently joined PEAT to discuss how and why ADP has worked with accessible software provider AudioEye to make their cloud-based HR platforms more accessible.

In this webinar, Jennifer Ravalli of ADP and Dan Sullivan of AudioEye discuss how they have worked to make ADP's human capital management (HCM) software more accessible for employees with disabilities.

Learn how educational institutions are bridging the hiring gap for new graduates with disabilities by educating HR professionals online about common barriers to access. Rachel Kerrigan discusses how Perkins School for the Blind and Harvard Extension School have partnered to provide a free online course titled “Introduction to Inclusive Talent Acquisition” for hiring managers and recruiters. The curriculum includes PEAT’s own TalentWorks tool, which provides key resources to help employers make their eRecruiting technologies accessible.

According to a new survey report by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 84% of organizations are now using social media for recruiting, up from 56% in 2011. These survey results add detail and paint a picture of what has become obvious: more and more, employers are posting job openings and information for job seekers on social media. And when these posts are not accessible, employers may be missing out on top talent.

Do you post job openings on Twitter and Instagram, or use LinkedIn to vet candidates? Today, 79% of job seekers use social media to locate job opportunities. In this webinar, digital marketer Eliza Greenwood will discuss steps to ensure that your social media recruiting efforts for active and passive talent can successfully reach candidates with disabilities. ​

One of the great promises of technology is that it can, and should, open the doors for people with disabilities to participate in the workplace by eliminating barriers. But when Deque web accessibility consultant and strategist Denis Boudreau investigated the basic accessibility of five top job hunting sites, the results were grim.

Good afternoon everybody. It's 2:00 o'clock so we're going to go ahead and get started. Hello, and welcome to our webinar today, introducing the new PEAT resource TalentWorks. We're very excited you've joined us. My name is Josh Christianson. I'm the project director of PEAT, and I'm joined today by Joiwind Ronen, who has been involved with PEAT in a variety of roles for a few years now and played an instrumental role in developing TalentWorks, and she will be giving us a tour of the resource a little bit later.

Deputy Secretary of Labor Chris Lu discusses his takeaways from meeting with the great Stevie Wonder and hundreds of other dedicated leading accessibility "stars" at last month's International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference (CSUN). As he notes, "our commitment to accessible technology is about basic civil rights, as well as the collective productivity of America’s workforce...employers, technology vendors and tech users with disabilities must all work together to raise awareness and educate one another about accessible workplace technology issues, most of which can be easily solved."

Introduction

Hello and welcome to PEAT Talks, the virtual speaker series from the Partnership on Employment and Accessible Technology. On every third Thursday of the month, PEAT Talks showcases various organizations on individuals whose work and innovations are advancing accessible technology in the workplace. My name is Christa Beal. I'm a member of the PEAT Team and I'll be hosting today's talk.

While new technologies have broken down countless barriers for individuals with disabilities, job hunting online continues to be fraught with accessibility-related obstacles that the general population may not even realize exist. And as GettingHired's Gabrielle Nagle discusses, inaccessible eRecruiting doesn’t just affect the job seeker, but also the employer.

As businesses compete to attract talented, skilled employees, it’s important to make sure that artificial barriers aren’t blocking their path. In this cautionary tale, Sassy Outwater explains how employers may be missing out on top candidates when their online hiring and recruiting systems aren't accessible.

Is corporate America waking up to the idea that accessibility can be a business driver, not an added expense? In the February PEAT Talk, AudioEye's Dan Sullivan, a senior executive with 15 years of experience in HR, suggested this is already happening.

PEAT is funded by the Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor. PEAT material does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, nor does the mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.